by MERY KOLIMON
Front cover of ‘Forbidden Memories’ PHOTO/Indah Pascalia Radja
The state must explain where my father was murdered, where my brother lies buried. My father was no criminal. He was a member of a party that was legal at the time. He worked hard for people’s welfare. Why was he treated like an animal? He was killed without a trial. We don’t even know where his grave is.
Net Markus, survivor of the 1965 Tragedy, Kupang city, East Nusa Tenggara
The 1965 Tragedy claimed members of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and others considered communist as its victim. The state targeted many innocent folk with horrific violence, as scapegoats for its own troubles. A violent stigma has been passed on from generation to generation. Today, fifty years after this humanitarian disaster, the victims and their families still suffer the consequences of that cruelty.
The 1965 Tragedy did not only wound its direct victims. It injured this country’s entire society. The whole nation was damaged by the Tragedy of 1965. Not only soldiers committed violent crimes. Civilians were also involved. Soldiers organised young people to attack the victims. The PKI was turned into a devil said to threaten national unity. It was precisely this discourse of unity that was used to destroy national solidarity. Afterwards, Indonesian unity became a mere slogan. Solidarity among citizens became an empty mantra, lacking any meaning.
Impunity is another legacy of the Tragedy of 1965. Criminals became national heroes. Victims became criminals. National history was turned on its head. Violence continued because it was seen as a legitimate way to resolve conflict. Up to the present day, the law and its enforcement are blunted by threats, terror and intimidation from violent groups. The Indonesian judicial system seems to be sick. It is never clear when the law applies and when it can be ignored without penalty.
This is why a strong conviction has grown among the survivors of the 1965 Tragedy in East Nusa Tenggara province: No full resolution to ‘1965’ can take place without the state confessing that it is responsible for the violence that occurred. Reconciliation among citizens at the grassroots level will have little sustainable impact unless the state openly acknowledges that the victims truly are victims of state violence. They are not, as has been said all along till now, national traitors who undermined Pancasila and the unitary Republic of Indonesia. Nothing less than a state declaration of guilt for the violence of the past, with full rehabilitation of the victims’ rights, will have the necessary healing effect both on victims and on society as a whole to go forward into the future.
Collecting stories
Research into the 1965 Tragedy in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) started at a meeting in Kupang in 2010. Its members belonged to a women’s study group called Jaringan Perempuan Indonesia Timur untuk Studi Perempuan, Agama, dan Budaya (JPIT, Eastern Indonesia Women’s Network for the Study of Women, Religion, and Culture). They came from various ethnic and religious backgrounds. One of the research themes they agreed upon was to unearth the stories of female victims of the humanitarian tragedy of 1965. As a first step, we selected just six locations in the province.
Collecting these stories was difficult. We began by recruiting researchers. They were all women from the two main Protestant churches here, namely Gereja Masehi Injili di Timor (GMIT, Timor Evangelical Church) and Gereja Kristen Sumba (GKS, Sumba Christian Church). Researchers were either ordained ministers or still in training. Not everyone who enthusiastically joined up saw it through to the end. Some pulled out because they were afraid their participation in such sensitive research might endanger themselves or their family.
Security became an early issue during our preparation. We knew this was a sensitive issue. Not all victims might feel free to talk. We also worried that perpetrators who learned about our research might come to threaten us. We dressed up our research under the innocuous title ‘Women and Service of the Church in the Period 1960–1970’.
However, our security fears turned out to be groundless. Perhaps this was because the researchers were all female ministers or ministers in training, and all our interviewees were female survivors. The book based on our research was published in 2012. It is entitled Memori-Memori Terlarang: Kisah Perempuan Penyintas Tragedi ’65 di NTT. An English translation will appear with Monash University Press in October 2015 as Forbidden Memories: Women’s Experiences of 1965 in Eastern Indonesia.
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